Page 55 of Wicked Savage Cruel
A man.
His voice comes closer. I can’t tell what he’s saying but his words get louder as he nears. “Help,” I try to call out, but my words are little more than a whisper. My throat aching and scraped raw from crying.
“Shut up.” The man behind me says with a growl. “Do you think he’s spotted us?” He directs his questions to the other guy. I shift my head, still unable to see either of their faces. Both men are dark shadows in the night. A heavy presence I’m desperate to escape. I can’t go through this again. I don’t care if they kill me. I can’t—
“Help!” This time my words are louder.
The two men curse and the one behind me shoves up from me, using my back to press himself forward. I groan from the weight of him, my spine protesting his movements. “We need to get gone,” he says.
“Hey! Stop!” The newcomer shouts and the two men curse. Footsteps pound across the pavement toward me. I can’t tell how far away he is but a trickle of hope spills into me. I move to push myself up when one of the men grabs my hair and jerks my head up, my scalp stinging and fresh tears forming in the corners of my eyes.
I cry out.
“Be sure to relay our message. If Ulrich fucks with one of our deals again, we’ll be more than happy to make another visit,” the man says before dropping me harshly back to the ground.
They run in the opposite direction just as a new man runs up alongside me. “Dammit.” He curses and reaches for me but I recoil from his touch. “I’m not going to hurt you. I work for the Sun Valley P.D. Everything is going to be okay.” He tears off his jacket and throws it over my exposed skin before flipping open his cell phone. “I need an ambulance at Sun Valley High. Sexual assault. Yes.”
I wrap his coat around myself as I struggle to lift my pants back into place. My fingers are numb and my hands shake, making it nearly impossible. When I finally pull them up I gingerly roll to my back. Dark night sky greets me.
I swallow hard and the man comes into my field of vision. His phone is still held up to his ear. He’s saying something but I can’t hear him. Darkness crowds my vision and this time, I welcome it.
TWENTY-SIX
Allie
Janessa storms into my hospital room with a no-nonsense air to her and for some strange reason, my shoulders relax.
She looks to the nurse who’s still completing my admittance paperwork and asks, “Can we have a moment? Alone.”
The nurse sends a sympathetic look my way and bobs her head before saying to me, “I’ll give you and your mom a few minutes and then I’ll come back and we’ll get started. Okay, Allie?”
I nod, not bothering to correct her as dread courses through me. She means we’ll get started with the rape kit and God, I don’t even want to think about everything that involves.
I stare down at my hands, noting the bruises on my knuckles. The bloody tears on my fingernails. I suck in a shuddering breath and start counting each bruise on my hands and arms. One. Two. Three. Four…
When we’re alone, Janessa pulls a chair closer to me.
Five. Six…
Taking a seat, she reaches out for my hands but I stiffen and jerk away.
She nods to herself and takes a deep breath. I keep my eyes trained on my hands. I know what she’s going to say.
“Your father couldn’t—”
“I know,” I whisper, not needing her to finish her sentence. Gerald is in an important meeting. He can’t get away. I’ve heard it all before. I shouldn’t have expected anything different.
So why is my stomach twisted up in tight ugly knots?
I swipe a tear away from my face.
I’m his kid. You're supposed to care about your kids, right? When your daughter is attacked you’re supposed to be there. Mom would have been here. She would have held my hand and smoothed my hair back. She would have told me to cry. That it was going to be okay. And she would have held me.
But none of this is going to be okay.Iwasn’t going to be okay.
Another tear escapes and I furiously swipe that one away, too. Mom isn’t here so I can’t cry. No one will hold me. No one will promise me that I’ll make it through this. I can’t break down because no one will be there to help me pick up the pieces.
Janessa releases a breath. It’s a resigned sound. “I’m sorry this happened to you, Allie. So terribly sorry.”
